I believe it is Mike O'Brien.
Sonny has been grooming him for years. Another obedient loyal servant of the Hall regime.
As TWU supporters call for AMFA to take resposibilty for the contracts that AMFA members inherited they avoid discussing the TWUs twenty-year track record of concessions.
AMFA has only been a force in the industry since 2000 when they were voted into NWA.
They brought the prevailing wage for passenger airline mechanics to $35/hr. The largest increase ever. However AMFA, which was under a PEB was not able to address everything, yet. They are still stuck with many of the concessions that were put in place by the IAM.
The TWU has been our representative for over 50 years. For the last twenty they have lead the industry in concessions. TWU representated workers have seen their standard of living plummett.
However the fortunes of the TWU International have been quite the opposite. As our standard of living plummetts the TWUs bottom line and membership have soared. The TWUs pro-company policies have led to some companies accepting the TWU as their employees representative without a vote.
While the TWU has brokered a well over 40% decline in real compensation for its members, AMR has more than tripled in size, providing a tripling of AMR/TWU members. The 40% decline in real dues per indivual member is more than offsett by the 150% increase in the number of dues payers.
This union is discounting our labor in order to maximize volume. They are selling us out in order to get more dues payers.
This really makes the TWU a for profit corporation. It is not in the members best interest to work for less so that the Union can get more dues. Nor is it in our best interests to work for less so the union can see a better return on their investments. If the TWU was a democratic union then the members could remove leaders who have hijacked the mission of this union to siut their own interests at our loss.
The TWUs growth at AMR has come at the expense of other unions-not by organinzing the unorganized- so the TWU is a threat to all union labor in this industry. So while the TWU bashes AMFA for "raiding", a process where the members make a deliberate choice of who represents them, the TWU has in fact stolen more members from other unions by default. In other words the ex-IAM and IBT members that are now TWU members never voted to get the TWU, they became TWU members because thats who was their employers choice of union.
While TWU members become TWU members because the TWU helped AMR put their previous employer out of business, AMFA members become AMFA members through the ballott box.
How many current TWU members at AA ever voted to have the TWU as their representative? ZERO! The only one who was on the payroll at the time was Al Blackman, he wants AMFA.
The relationship between the "member" and the TWU International is more like an employee/employer in that the International is the employer. Employers would be willing to sell their product for less in exchange for volume. Unions were put in place to protect employees from such schemes. Just because the TWU calls us "members" it does not make it so. TWU "members" have as much say in the happenings, directions and decisions of the TWU International as WalMart "Associates" have in those things at Walmart.
In fact when we compare the strategies of the two organizations there is little disinction between the two. The TWU offers corporations the lowest labor rates for a unionized workforce going. In exchange for low rates they get more members. Walmart offers consumers the lowest prices, in exchange for less profit per unit they move more volume.
The main benifit for companies, and one of the reasons why companies have accepted the "card check" and welcomed in the TWU is that with the TWU in place it elimiates the possibility that a more militant AFL-CIO union could come in and makes it harder for the workers to form their own union.
For the company, a little kickback to the union is a lot cheaper than wage and benifit increases. The structure of the TWU where top officers are unaccountable and can remove local officers that cause them any grief insures that the Union will never fall into the hands of the members. So little "deals" like company paid UB or direct payments to union officials can reap huge dividends for the company. As they sit back and line their pockets-their reward for the years of obedience to prior International officers, they simply spin things around and blame the members.
The TWU loves to blame the members for not participating. This effective hook by the International, often repeated by Local leaders works because there is truth to the statement that participation is essential to the proper functioning of a democratic union. The key word is "democratic". We do not have a democratic union.
The TWU blames the members for not participating but denies them the right to choose who runs the union. In other words you can come here and do as I say, but dont ever try to act like you are in control.
The TWU blames the members for not participating but fails to state what they want the members to participate in.
The last thing that the TWU actually wants is for the members to participate in any action. We saw that the few times spontaneous actions flared up.
They really dont want you to even go to Local meetings. As far as they are concerned high membership attendance at meetings means something is wrong. "Why are you all here?" Not only that but it ruins their #1 excuse for their incompetance.
If the members show up at meetings then what excuse will they give the members for not accomplishing what the members want? The fact is that our wants, higher pay and better benifits runs in direct opposition to what the TWU wants to offer employers.
If the TWU gets the members what they want then they will likely not get too many "card check" members nor will they likely enjoy the financial rewards that greatful corporations currently lavish upon them.
The fact is the members do not participate because they know that because of the way our union is structured that the International is not accountable to them. They also know that the Constitution is geared to give the International the ultimate authority over everything in the union, from contracts, to local bylaws and even who the members choose to represent them through the locals. THe International has the power to split up locals or dissolve them. To approve bylaws or reject them. To put amended contracts (which is all we ever see under the RLA) out for membership ratification or simply accept it.
The fact is that all any member has to do is read our Constitution and see that nowhere in the entire document are the members given direct control over the union.
So unless the goal is to get out of your current job, and into the business of being an employee of the International then why would the "member" participate", and sacrifice even more hours of their lives, in an organization that takes their money without their consent and uses it to suit their own interests without regard for the member? Why would they want to sit there and listen to more lies, more spin, more false promises that you know they have no intention of ever keeping?
There is only one cure for what ails us, to get rid of the TWU.
AMFA now!
